News

Voice Actor Scott Freeman Convicted of Possession of Child Pornography

Voice actor Scott Freeman pleaded guilty to eight counts of possession of child pornography on July 30 after accepting a plea bargain and waiver of jury trial. He was convicted and sentenced to three years at a Texas state prison, concurrent with prior sentence.

Freeman was charged with all eight counts on April 5, 2014.

The Texas Penal Code defines possession of child pornography as a situation where "the person knowingly or intentionally possesses visual material that visually depicts a child younger than 18 years of age at the time the image of the child was made who is engaging in sexual conduct." It is considered a felony of the third degree.

In anime, Freeman has played roles such as Issei Hyōdō in High School DxD, England in Hetalia - Axis Powers, Shusei Kagari in Psycho-Pass, Starjun in Toriko, Sunda in Fractale, Mitsuki Sarue/Sariel in The Devil Is a Part-Timer! Oogumo in Guilty Crown, Kengo Usui in Maken-Ki! Battling Venus, Shinichiro Tokizane in Blood-C, and Yuuji Sakamoto in Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts, among others. FUNimation Entertainment replaced Freeman as the voice of Issei for the High School DxD BorN broadcast dub in May.

Funimation commented on Freeman's conviction:

In May of 2015, FUNimation became aware of the legal matter involving Scott Freeman, at which time we suspended our relationship with Scott. In the wake of recent news, we have permanently ended the relationship. Any other questions should be directed to Scott Freeman directly.

Thanks to Rukiia and several anonymous tippers for the news tip.